1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to coin handling equipment and particularly to a high-speed coin sorter.
2. Background Information
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,086,928 and 4,098,280 illustrate coin sorters which employ annular sorting heads positioned over and adjacent to a rotating disc having a resilient surface. Coins are then introduced through a central opening in a sorting head. The undersides of the sorting heads of these patents are configured to effect a single file of coins which spirals outward to a discrete and constant radial position defined by an inner facing edge of a circular peripheral guide. Coins are then sorted as a function of the unique position of the inner edge of different diameter coins upon their reaching the periphery of the disc. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,928, this is accomplished by pressing the inner edge into the resilient surface, enabling the outer edge to rise and be hurled over the peripheral guide. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,098,280, the final act of sorting involves initially pressing a coin into the resilient surface and holding it at a radial position (with respect to the center of the rotating disc) without the peripheral guide and ejecting different size coins by radially variable slots in the sorting head which releases coins. In both instances, a constant outer radial position is used as a reference position for coins.
Pertinently, European patent application publication No. 0151776 discloses the employment of an opposite referencing of coins wherein the inner edges of coins are referenced at a radial position, and sorting is effected in terms of the position of the outer edge of different diameter coins at the periphery of the disc. While the sorters of the prior art are effective, they all suffer from the fact that their sorting surfaces consisting of lands and recesses are tremendously complex, and machining costs are quite substantial. Further, insofar as is known by the applicant, none have been adapted to provide precise accuracy in supplying a desired number of coins of a given denomination.
Accordingly, it is the object of this invention to provide a coin sorter having a sorting head which is greatly simplified and one wherein precise control is effected over a delivery of a selected number of coins of a given denomination.